This Influencer-Loved Food Brand Is Recalling Products After Hundreds Complain of Mysterious Illnesses Daily Harvest is issuing a recall on its French Lentil + Leek Crumbles after viral social media posts raised health concerns.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
A healthy food brand beloved by influencers is going viral on social media this week — but not in a good way.
Daily Harvest, which has become popular among influencers for its sleek, minimalist packaging and lighter fare options — smoothies, flatbreads, oat bowls — has recalled its French Lentil + Leek Crumbles after a slew of customer complaints alleging that the new crumbles offering has made them extremely ill.
A viral TikTok made the rounds earlier this week where creator Abigail Silverman said she was hospitalized with gastrointestinal issues and a 101.8 fever after ingesting the crumbles. (Silverman said she received the product free in a press package.)
Silverman says she ingested the company's French Lentil + Leek Crumbles and alleges she had "extreme stomach and gastro pain" after eating the product and that she is still suffering from irregularities weeks later, only making the connection between her symptoms and the Daily Harvest food after receiving an email from the company that an investigation was being launched.
@abby.silverman this is so f**ked up… #fyp ♬ original sound - Abigail Silverman
"I have had to adjust my entire life the last month to deal with this and part of me is grateful that I have an explanation of what's going on because I've never had a health issue like this before until literally I ate this," Silverman told viewers. "That's the only thing that was different about my routine until I started having this issue."
Silverman has since lawyered up and released a statement regarding her experience with the food company.
"After consuming a Daily Harvest's French Lentil + Leak Crumbles, Abby Silverman developed extreme stomach and gastrointestinal pain. Abby was hospitalized shortly thereafter on two occasions and the painful symptoms persisted for several days. We are investigating and evaluating all legal remedies for Abby, who was stricken with illness after consuming this product that was mailed to her," Mark Apostolos, Partner at Sullivan, Papain, Block, McGrath, Coffinas, & Cannavo, PC told Entrepreneur in an email.
Silverman's video was coupled with a massive influx of comments on the Daily Harvest subreddit page (there were over 800 comments as of early Thursday afternoon) where users told their stories about getting sick from the crumbles after the original poster described "debilitating stomach pain" that landed her in the ER.
She claimed that when she went to eat the crumbles two weeks later, the same symptoms returned and noted that the Daily Harvest product was the "only common denominator" between both bouts of sickness.
"I believe this product has caused me debilitating stomach pain that has taken days to go away," she wrote bluntly.
Daily Harvest Responds
Daily Harvest has responded to the allegations in a series of posts on their website.
The company officially recalled the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles on June 19 at 1:45 p.m. EST, urging customers who have purchased the product to dispose of it.
"We've received customer reports of French Lentil + Leek Crumbles causing gastrointestinal issues. We took immediate steps to address what we heard from customers, reaching out to every person who received French Lentil + Leek Crumbles, instructing them to dispose of the product and not eat it," the company wrote. "We simultaneously launched an investigation with internal and external experts throughout our supply chain and in accordance with regulatory procedures. We will share more information as soon as it's available."
On Wednesday afternoon, Daily Harvest revealed it would be taking investigative action to figure out the problem.
"We launched an investigation to identify the root cause of the health issues being reported. We're working closely with the FDA and with multiple independent labs to investigate this," the report reads. "We are working with a group of experts to help us get to the bottom of this—that includes microbiologists, toxin and pathogen experts as well as allergists. All pathogen and toxicology results have come back negative so far, but we're continuing to do extensive testing and will keep you updated."
Customers who have been impacted are encouraged to file a report with the company via an online form or email.
Entrepreneur reached out to Daily Harvest for further information but received the same information that was presented to the public.
The FDA has not released a statement as the investigation is ongoing, though that has not stopped Reddit users from posting a spate of claims.
The FDA and the Daily Harvest have not confirmed any of the complaints alleged on social media at this time.
Daily Harvest was last valued at an estimated $1.1 billion after its most recent of funding last November.
This is a developing story.
